· Document Number：No. 12 [2009] of the General Office of the CCCPC

· Area of Law： Government Affairs

· Level of Authority： Group Provisions

· Date issued：02-20-2009

· Effective Date：02-20-2009

· Status： Effective

· Issuing Authority： General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (General Office, CCCPC) General Office of the State Council

Notice of the General Office of the CCCPC and the General Office of the State Council on Firmly Preventing Overseas Travel with Public Money
(No. 12 [2009] of the General Office of the CCCPC on February 20, 2009)
The Party committees and the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, all departments of the Central Committee of the CPC, all ministries and commissions under the State Council, all headquarters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, all large entities, and all people's organizations,
Since the printing and distribution of the Notice of the General Office of the CCCPC and the General Office of the State Council on Further Strengthening the Administration of Going Abroad on Business (No. 9 [2008] of the General Office of the CCCPC) in March of 2008, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other 8 departments have carried out special control activities for the prevention of overseas travel with public money throughout the country and have achieved certain effects. However, there are still some prominent problems, i.e. the excessively rapid increase of the numbers of overseas visiting teams (groups) and team (group) members; the loose examination and approval and supervision of the overseas travel for official business in some regions and departments; and the severe problem of travelling abroad with public money in various disguises by taking the chance of travelling abroad for official business. The overseas travel with public money not only results in huge waste but also severely impairs the images of the Party and the government, so it shall be prohibited stoutly. You are hereby notified of the following issues:
1. The officials shall set themselves as an example to others and strictly discipline themselves. The officials at all levels shall advocate the good tradition of hardworking and being frugal and consciously resist waste and extravagance. They shall take the lead in executing document No. 9 [2008] issued by the General Office of the CCCPC and other rules and regulations on foreign affairs, and shall not organize or participate in any overseas travel activity with public money. They shall strictly arrange the tasks of travelling abroad for official business, and shall not regard the travelling abroad for official business as a fringe benefit or influence the examination and approval of the travelling abroad for official business by any means.
2. The operating funds for travelling abroad and the numbers of overseas visiting teams (groups) and team (group) members for official business shall be reduced significantly. The operating fund disbursements of each region or each department for overseas visit for official business in 2009 shall be cut down by 20 % on the basis of the average of the recent 3 years and the numbers of overseas visiting teams (groups) for official business and team (group) members shall be reduced correspondingly. The operating fund for overseas travel for official business shall, in accordance with the Interim Measures for Strengthening the Administration of Funds for the Party and Government Officials' Going Abroad on Business issued by the Ministry of Finance and other departments, be totally integrated into the special budget management and be subject to the examination and approval in advance. No official of the Party or government may misappropriate other public funds to travel abroad or accept payments or subsidies from any enterprise or public institution for overseas travel or apportion the overseas travel expenses to the subordinate institutions or local departments or reimburse from the public money the expenses for overseas travel by holding private certificate to violate the relevant provisions.
3. An examination and approval department shall carefully perform their duties and exercise strict control. It shall strictly examine the necessity of the task of organizing the overseas visiting team (group) for official business, the genuineness of the materials submitted for approval and the reasonableness of the travel schedule so as to earnestly prevent overseas travel with public money in the excuse of official business. It shall strictly prohibit ordinary surveys and repeated surveys and strictly control the length of stay abroad for the relevant teams (groups). It shall check whether the overseas visiting teams (groups) have strictly executed the approved travel schedule, accomplished the relevant tasks and obeyed the disciplines or not, and evaluate the visit reports of the said overseas visiting teams (groups). The public finance, audit and other departments shall strengthen the supervision over the use of operating funds for overseas travel for official business, and in the case of examination and approval in violation of relevant provisions or in the case of failure to carefully execute the examination and approval duties, shall seriously make the relevant officials and directly responsible persons subject to their liabilities.
4. The responsibilities of the dispatching entities shall be intensified under the principle that the entity which dispatches an overseas visiting team shall be responsible for it. Each dispatching entity shall attach great importance to the administration of oversea travel for official business, strictly execute relevant provisions and prevent any falsification and violations. The person in charge of an overseas visiting team (group) shall earnestly shoulder the responsibilities and shall not change the travel schedule without approval by adding countries, regions or cities to visit or by extending the stay abroad. The prevention of overseas travel with public money shall be regarded as an important part for the evaluation of the accountability system for the construction of Party's work style and clean administration. In the case of any overseas travel with public money, both the person in charge of the overseas visiting team (group) and the person in charge of the dispatching entity shall be subject to their liabilities.
5. We shall stringently crack down on such acts of travel agencies and intermediary agencies as contacting the inviting party or purchasing invitation letters and making up false travel schedules for overseas visiting teams (groups). The tourism, industry and commerce, and other functional departments shall strengthen the supervision and punish any violator in pursuance of law. If the circumstance is serious, the business operation qualification of the violator shall be cancelled.
6. The cases of overseas travel with public money shall be seriously investigated and dealt with. The discipline inspection and supervision, audit and other organs at all levels shall attach great importance to investigating and dealing with cases of overseas travel with public money, stringently punish and timely expose those violating the disciplines with no regard to this Notice. They shall lay emphasis on investigating and dealing with the cases involving false report of overseas visiting tasks, fraudulent obtainment of approval by purchasing invitation letters, etc.; cases involving change of travel schedule without approval, adding countries, regions or cities to visit, and extending the stay abroad; and cases in which the officials of the Party and government misappropriate other public funds to travel abroad or accept payments or subsidies from any enterprise or public institution for overseas travel or apportion the overseas travel expenses to the subordinate institutions or local departments. Apart from seriously making the relevant persons subject to their liabilities, the expenses for overseas travel with public money shall be paid by the team (group) members themselves.
7. The system for the administration of overseas travel for official business shall be reformed and improved. The foreign affairs administrative departments shall strengthen the centralized administration of the foreign affairs work, solve the problems existing in the foreign affairs examination and approval power, clean up and regulate the examination and approval power, detail the examination and approval criterions, improve the quality of examination and approval, improve the mechanism for the inspection of overseas activities of overseas visiting teams (groups) for official business and accept the supervision of the general public.